Michael J.P. Hall photographed so much grimy plastic over the last five years that his film colleagues could predict the subject of his next shot.
"It was just a love/hate relationship with plastic," the commercial photographer and set decorator said.
Hall likes the way plastic sheeting catches the light. But he is disgusted at the amount of related waste the can be found on the streets, in landfills, on film sets and construction sites.
Now Hall has fashioned fantastical photographs for a series called Entanglement, which will be displayed at Telus World of Science from July 16 to Sept. 2, and which he hopes will get viewers questioning their relationship with plastic trash.
"I feel like art that is harsh and combative doesn't penetrate people," Hall said. "You look at Edward Burtynsky's work, which is images of disasters and terrible environments, basically, but they're so beautiful and so you want to look at them. You're invited in and you're softened by the experience of seeing them and that, to me, was important with this."
But he also hopes viewers will feel an emotional response to Entanglement's images, which include a couple and a baby snuggled in a nest of plastic trash.
Hall conceived an ethnographic-style photo series that would appear to document a culture of proud people, say a hundred years from now, who have never seen new plastic, stumble upon its remnants and begin to covet it as something special in their lives.
He says when he described his conceit to others in a hyperbolic manner, some pointed out that future is not far removed from where we are now.
"And then it made sense to me that it's a comment on where we're at now, not a comment necessarily on where we're going," Hall said. "You look at the way people treat their iPhones, or their new water bottles and their new yoga mats, we covet this stuff."
He and multidisciplinary performer and designer Nita Bowerman picked up plastic rubbish from the Vancouver Transfer Station and the sides of highways and Bowerman fashioned the refuse into elaborate costumes for Hall's shoots.
"She was experimenting and finding what worked and eventually we found the esthetic," he said. "It kind of had that feather-like quality."
Hall secured the interest of Science World and then raised the bulk of the money for the project through an Indiegogo.com campaign that was sponsored and executed within 21 days. He donated 10 per cent of what he'd raised to Surfrider Foundation Vancouver and the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
"So it's not just some guy making some project in his garage," Hall said. "All of a sudden it's a community of people working together. It's a lot of people's project now."
An environmental art auction raised additional funds and a dance party spread awareness about Hall's focus and demonstrated that a little pre-planning can prevent the creation of unnecessary waste.
"It was a bring your own cup thing," Hall said. "We had compostable cups that you could buy and reuse_ We did a waste audit on that whole fundraiser and produced, actually, just one plastic bottle."
At least two of Bowerman's costumes will also be displayed in the airy atrium near the entrance to Science World. "I'm hoping a lot of kids will see it and ideas will pop into their brains," the 34-year-old Hall said.
Entanglement opens July 16 at 6:30 p.m. with a free showing. Spots can be reserved on Eventbrite.com.
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